Product Description

The Loar LM-500-VS is hand-assembled in The Loar design studios. The Loar has carefully crafted the LM-500 with a hand-carved solid spruce top and hand-carved figured maple back and sides.

The Loar LM-500's fretboard extension has also been scooped, allowing players to position the pick closer to the neck joint, so they can find the mandolin's "sweet spot" without fear of the pick hitting against the higher frets.

The Loar LM-500's aesthetics have been modernized, including a "Fleur-de-Lys" style headstock inlay for a more contemporary look. A one-piece figured maple neck, bound ebony fretboard, Grover tuning machines and an ebony bridge round out the list of impressive features on this beautiful mandolin.

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"The Loar LM500VS Golden Age reissue mandolin. 2nd time's the charm!"

Sound:
Sounds amazing right out of the box!! Just received this yesterday and after a quick tune up the mandolin sounds incredible. This is the reissue model LM500VS which production date on/after May 2011 is now produced in the Loar design studio along with th LM600 and LM 700 using hand carved solid wood top, back and sides. See this builder news link for for the Loar LM500VS: http://www.mandolincafe.com/news/publish/mandolins_00478.shtml). It also does not have tone bars (becoming more common) which gives the mandolin immediate loud projection rather than over time from wood aging.
Feature:
All solid hand selected/hand carved tone woods. Spruce top with maple back, sides and neck. Ebony fretboard, ebony bridge, bone nut and a new feature scooped fretboard end to allow close to neck joint picking without hitting frets for that "sweet spot" sound. Quality grover tuners keep the mandolin in tune. Came equipped with D'Addario strings that were covered with a waxed paper to keep them from corrosion. It was also packaged very well from the factory as mine had no shipping damage. The mother of pearl and abalone inlay workmanship is also excellent. Nitro cellulose finish.
Ease of Use:
Great set up, east to tune and play.
Quality:
The factory set up was excellent, however comestic issues are clearly noticable typically around the scroll areas bottom of f holes , neck joint and under the fretboard extension likely due to the small spaces. The large areas including back, sides and top have an excellent finish. These cosmetic issues are only noticeable upon very close observation. This was not an issue for me and probably why this mandolin is not $2000.00
Value:
Incredible all solid hand carved mandolin for this price. Looks and sounds like The Gibson F5 or The Flatiron for a fraction of the price!
Manufacturer Support:
No experience but many reviewers I have read had very positive experience.
The Wow Factor:
These Loar F style mandolins are not only beautiful to look at but they play and sound as good as they look. This new reissue LM500VS model is getting rave reviews and now I know why!
Overall:
All solid hand carved beautiful mandolin with all the high end features for a reasonable price.

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